Nok Cultural Ensemble — Tape Percussion
Explosive afro-percussion meets dub and free jazz
Explosive afro-percussion meets dub and free jazz
On Tape Percussion, the Nok Cultural Ensemble centre diverse Afro-diasporic percussive traditions expressed through free jazz sensibilities and glitching beats, extending the futuristic pulse of dub technologies. This intuitive toolkit opens with 5 one-shot jazz kits and 6 one-shot African percussion patches, followed by Caribbean rhythms and dub-inspired warps over 8 drum loops, 69 atmospheric scenes, and 13 tonal, melodic warped presets — complemented by a range of in-built FX. Recorded to tape at the legendary Ariwa Studios, these sounds and textures thrum, crackle, and crash with new possibilities for modern tracks and contemporary media scores.
Led by Edward Wakili-Hick, this collective of percussion prodigies are all leading lights playing across various genres underpinning London’s eclectic jazz and beat scenes.
In this page:
- Hard drive delivery available at checkout
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Spitfire Audio App required
African percussion
Dedicated plugin
Five sections
- Full Kits (5): Detailed drum hits from five distinctive acoustic and electronic kits
- Kit Loops (8) - Tempo-synced drum loops, stemmed out across the keyboard
- Percussion (4): A selection of various African and Caribbean percussion instruments
- Atmospheres (2): Experimental drum loops played live with various kits and percussion
- Tonal Warps (13): Melodic, abstract hits and loops, warped and distorted from the original percussion recordings
Five controls
- Processed Signal — The dynamics slider allows you to fade into a processed signal featuring bespoke live FX from Ariwa Studios
- Reverb — Controls the amount of reverb being added. Choose between a bespoke collection of 7 impulse responses, ranging from short studios and rooms to long, cavernous churches and halls
- Release — Allows you to change the length of the release of a note
- Tape Saturation — Controls the amount of tape saturation added
- Attack — Allows you to change the length of the attack of a note
“The music we love today - techno, drill, trap - none of this would exist without dub. With these sounds and this album, I wanted to celebrate that history and approach to sound”.
What's included
Full Kits
A selection of deeply sampled one shot drum kits, played by Edward. Focusing on five drum kits. One higher tuned jazz kit, lower tuned muffled kit, lower tuning open tones, extended hits and an electronic kit. 3 dynamics, 3 round robins.
- Acoustic Kit 1
- Acoustic Kit 2
- Acoustic Kit 3
- Acoustic Kit 4
- Electronic Kit
Kit Loops
Tempo synced loops using the drum kits, split up in stems per drum or cymbal. Different rhythms mapped to semitones.
- Drum Loop 1 (140bpm)
- Drum Loop 2 (140bpm)
- Drum Loop 3 (80bpm)
- Drum Loop 4 (140bpm)
- Drum Loop 5 (90bpm)
- Drum Loop 6 (170bpm)
- Drum Loop 7 (140bpm)
- Drum Loop 8 (140bpm)
Percussion
A selection of deeply sampled one shot percussion kits, played by different individual members of the groups. Focusing on unique West African percussion instruments. Combined into 6 presets.
- Percussion 1
- Percussion 2
- Percussion 3
- Percussion 4
- Percussion 5
- Percussion 6
Atmospheres
Atmospheric looped sounds and FX. Using kits and percussion.
- Drum Atmospheres 1
- Drum Atmospheres 2
Tonal Warps
Tuned perc and drum hits shaped into 808s and percussive style synths and pads.
- Tuned Kick 1
- Tuned Kick 2
- Tuned Kick 3
- Cymbal Pad
- Digital Bass Tom
- Snare Blip
- Melodic Tom
- Perc Tone
- Primal Hats
- Bass Fireworks
- Bass Pluck
- Mayhem Kit Loops
- Stretched Atmos
FAQs
How do I add this library into kontakt?
You don’t! Tape Percussion is a dedicated, free to use plugin available as VST2, VST3, AAX and AU, so it can be used directly in your favourite DAW.
What software will I need to install?
You will only need the Spitfire Audio App which you can download here.
What software will I need to run this library?
We provide a VST2, VST3, AAX and an AU, so as long as your chosen DAW supports one of those plugin formats, you’re good to go.
Read more FAQs for this productTech specs
Mac system requirements
Mac OS X 10.13 to OS 12
Minimum: 2.8GHz i5 minimum (quad-core), 8GB RAM
Recommended: 2.8GHz i7 (sixcore), 16GB RAM
Intel and Apple Silicon/ARM are supported
32-bit is not supported
PC system requirements
Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit only
Intel Core i7 6th gen and later or AMD Ryzen 7
32-bit is not supported
File size
2.67 GB install size